A Very Bad Job
by Zee-Zee Magee
Summary: Well... the job went to hell. One of them is dying. One of them is missing. One of them is out cold. Yep, just another horrible job in the long list of cons that just don't want to cooperate with Nate's plan. T for safety purposes.
1. Discovery

Nate and Eliot are rushing through the hotel hall at top speed. The others are in trouble and they have to get there in time. They have to save their team. They get to the door and they both don't even bother with guessing about the key. Eliot kicks the door in to the point where it actually bends off its hinges and sweeps to the floor. The room is in complete chaos with upturned furniture and blood spattering in some spots. There's a broken chair in the middle of the kitchen and the television and mirrors have pretty bad cracks in them. They don't notice this though. No, they don't notice the signs of a struggle for salvation. There's a body on the floor. That's what they notice.

"Sophie!" Nate screams and Eliot swears that the air just vacated his lungs of its own accord.

"Sophie!" Nate calls out again as he magically appears right beside the grifter. It's not a very good sight. She's lying there with her eyes open and a cord wrapped delicately around her throat. Her body isn't quite blue but it's getting there which seems to be the only sign Nate needs. He starts checking for a pulse and yanks that chord off her neck faster than any man who was trained in it ever could. His mouth is breathing into her before Eliot even has time to realize what's going on. The hitter checks her pulse and can't help the sick feeling in his stomach at the lack of movement under his fingertips. Her heart wasn't doing a very good job of beating at all.

"Come on!" Nate shouted as he tried to get the grifter to breathe, "Come on, Soph! Don't you leave me now! Breathe, dammit!"

"Nate," Eliot's voice called through the fog that was starting to develop, "She's gone. We need to find the others."

"Breathe!" Nate shouted louder at the grifter again and again as he tried to get her lungs working again.


	2. Dying

It was an odd feeling, dying. It was even worse the way she was going. Sophie could feel and see everything that was happening but she couldn't breathe, couldn't move. So she stared at the ceiling as her life started to slip off into oblivion. She heard a loud sound over by the door. Her name followed shortly afterwards. Then Nate popped into her line of sight with Eliot joining him with tired looks of worry on their faces as they started working on keeping her alive, but it was already too late and she knew it. It was an odd feeling. She could feel her pulse growing weaker as her vision started to dim. It hurt too. There was nothing there to help her breathe and her chest ached for oxygen. Her heart felt like this giant gulp of fire every time it tried to send blood throughout her body. She wanted the darkness to hurry up and swallow her whole. She didn't want Nate to know she suffered. Then her throat was aching in double time all of a sudden and a persistent mouth of familiarity started slamming air into her lungs. That hurt worse than anything. It was Nate's mouth breathing into her. She couldn't move because it was too late and she was going to die and he was going to feel guilty because he couldn't save her in time. Her heart started thudding against her chest and her lungs burned as they moved the way they were supposed to. The blackness was starting to disappear and it really didn't make any sense because she was starting to feel alive again. Nate's mouth forced air into her lungs one more time and then they remembered how to work. She started coughing and it hurt and burned and was the worst pain she had ever gone through.

The sounds of rough coughing started to fill the air after that. Sophie was blinking and coughing in Nate's arms and very much alive. She was practically shaking from the force of the fits.

"Thank God," Nate cried out as he clasped the grifter tightly in his arms so she wouldn't hurt herself further, "You're okay."

"Parker!" Sophie screeched out as she tried to clasp Eliot's hand to get his attention, "Hardison! Goons! Out!"

"I'm on it," Eliot nodded as he realized what the grifter was trying to do, "Stay here!"

"Sophie, calm down," Nate pleaded as he started drawing circles in her back to keep her lungs from overexerting themselves, "You need to breathe slowly."

The grifter continued to cough, gasp and groan as her breathing tried to get under control. Tears were forming in her eyes and the mastermind wasn't sure what they were for. He held her close and kept rubbing her back while air remembered how to fill her lungs again.

Eliot raced into the other rooms as quickly as possible. He forced his way into all of them with no sign of the hacker or thief anywhere. He kicked his way into the final room in a panic. The hacker was there, lying on the floor unconscious. The hitter quickly stepped to his side and checked for a pulse. Hardison was alive but the blood smears from earlier were definitely his. Eliot raised the young man up onto the bed and started looking for a first aid kit. The window to the room was open and the wind whistled through the curtains in an insulting, soothing breeze. Nate raced into the room carefully and stared at the hacker in shock.

"Parker?" Nate demanded immediately.

"Gone," Eliot replied back as he continued to work on cleaning the hacker's wounds, "Through the window. I can't tell if she was taken or not. Sophie?"

"Passed out the moment her breathing got under control," Nate bitterly replied as he stared at the hacker transfixed, "How bad is he?"

"He's got a nasty bump on the head," Eliot surmised quickly, "A few broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder. He'll be fine in a few weeks. He'll be out cold for at least the next few days."

"Why did they leave him like that?" Nate demanded hotly, "What was their plan?"

"They were sending us a message," Eliot stated calmly, "Apparently Sophie was too much of a risk to leave alive."

"Hardison would be the one to fight for Parker the hardest," Nate spat back at the sinister idea, "Why kill Sophie, seriously injure him, and take Parker?"

"Because they were going to take Parker," Eliot stated as he stopped working on the hacker long enough to get his shaking hands under control, "Sophie's the mama bear of the den. If you steal a mama's cubs you better be prepared for a fight. Hardison was the second most dangerous thing in their path after that. I think Sophie really took them for a spin before they finally brought her down. Their goal was Parker based on the direction of all the upturned furniture."

"Why get us out of the room though?" Nate questioned as he helped the hitter reset the hacker's shoulder, "Why not just you?"

"You're the boss," Eliot replied after a pause, "You'll do anything, including getting your ass sent to prison, to protect your team. They wanted to separate the strongest from the weakest for a while."

"I'm going to kill them," Nate stated darkly, "I'll rip their throats out if they so much as lay a hand on Parker."

"That'll send them the right message," Eliot huffed at the mastermind's automatic thoughts, "You try to strangle my girl and I'll rip your throats out, you hurt my thief and I'll kill you slowly. Hurt my hacker and your fingers are going to be broken separately."

"In my defense," Nate responded in kind, "You're the one who will be doing most of the torturing."

"How are you?" Eliot demanded as he let the statement rest.

"I'm going to stay with Sophie," Nate replied back as he left the room with that blank look on his face that meant he was already planning their enemy's demise.

"They're going to pay," Eliot translated for the unconscious hacker, "Nate's got a plan forming in his head and as soon as you and Sophie are in top notch shape, we'll get Parker back."


	3. Decision

Parker ran. She ran as fast as she could. She ran through the tears and the hurt because that was all she could do. They didn't want her anymore. Sophie told her that. Sophie said she wasn't worth anything to them anymore and should do them all the favor and run away to never be heard from again. Sophie said it was her fault her brother died. It was her fault they were in this mess. It was her fault that they could be killed at any moment. Sophie was using her con voice though so Parker was very confused. She couldn't understand why the only real family she had ever had would want her gone. Sophie told her to leave because she was worthless and wasn't worth the effort to love. She said it in the same voice she used during the Davids job. Sophie was lying. She was just making her run. Sophie wanted her to leave and she let her push her away. She let Hardison do it too. Hardison said he didn't love her. Hardison told her he could never love such a miserable, emotionless thing like her. He also said that her love for pretzels should be the only thing she holds onto. Hardison was never as good at lying like Sophie. He wanted her gone but it wasn't because he didn't love her. They were protecting her. Parker froze as reality hit. Sophie had gone downstairs to get something when Eliot and Nate left. She came back in a huff without whatever it was she was after. That was when she started the yelling and the screaming and the hurtful words that were so believable at the time but they were lies. Sophie lied. Hardison practically packed everything up for Parker while it was happening. He let Sophie say all those mean things she didn't mean and she let them. She let them hurt her because she couldn't figure out why they hated her so much. They didn't hate her after all. They were protecting her. Which means they were in trouble! They could be dead and she'll never know. Eliot and Nate could have found them dead and think the same thing about her. Eliot would kill everything and anything until he found her. Nate would curl up in a bottle. They needed to know she was safe. Sophie and Hardison… they weren't dead. She would know if they were dead but they were so mean and they might be and she'll never know. You're not supposed to go back though. First rule of thieves is that you never go back. Sophie would be very upset if she went back and fell into a trap. Hardison would be angry too because he loved her and she gave herself to them anyways. Eliot and Nate needed to know she was alive. She had to go back. Her family needed her and that was too important. Parker didn't even realize she had already made the decision until she looked up and recognized the hotel she was standing in front of. She had to go up.

Parker made her way through the window the way she did everything else, quietly. The first thing she spotted was Hardison lying very still on the bed. Her heart stopped at the sight. Was he dead? She needed to know for sure. Then she could worry about Sophie and Nate and Eliot. Right now her hacker needed her more. A rough hand wrapped around her shoulders before she made it to her destination though.

"Parker," Nate sighed in relief as he pulled her into a hug, "Thank God you're alright."

"Is he dead?" Parker demanded as stupid tears started to fill her eyes at the sight of the mastermind being relieved she came back.

"He'll be out for a while but he'll be fine," Nate reassured her as he kept a firm hold on her, "Are you okay? They didn't hurt you did they?"

"I'm sorry," Parker apologized as everything came crashing into her at once, "Sophie told me I was worthless and that you didn't want me anymore but I had to make sure everybody was okay. I'm sorry. I'll leave! I didn't mean to come back. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"What do you mean Sophie said we didn't want you anymore?" Eliot growled as he entered the room to find the thief crying in their mastermind's arms.

"She and Hardison were yelling at me and telling me how much they hated me and wished I wasn't part of the team anymore," Parker replied as she clung to the mastermind in shock, "Hardison wasn't as convincing. They were lying and I didn't realize it until I was far away. They were protecting me. She was using her con voice. He said he didn't love me. I didn't know."

"Shh," Nate soothed her as he immediately figured out what had gone on, "You're okay. Sophie lied. We want you here. Why wouldn't we want you here? You're our Parker! I'm just glad you're alright."

"Why would Sophie do that to her?" Eliot demanded angrily as the thief gave him a hug, "She, better than any of us, knows what happened to her."

"Sophie knew they were coming," Nate replied as the real answer popped into his head quickly enough, "She knew they were coming for Parker and did what she knew was the quickest way to get her away from danger. Hardison figured it out and helped her along. They were buying her time."

"I didn't mean to come back," Parker cried into the hitter's arms, "I just wanted to see if they were alright."

"I'm gonna kill her," Eliot growled out in frustration, "I don't care what the reasons are. You don't con your own crew like that!"

"Parker?" a barely familiar voice sounded off as she entered the room.

"Sophie!" Parker screamed in relief as she raced to the grifter's arms and hugged her tight, "I'm sorry I came back! I just wanted to be sure you're okay."

"I'm sorry," Sophie apologized immediately as she burst into tears of relief with the thief, "It was the only way to get you out of here fast enough. I didn't mean it, Parker! We want you here! You belong here! I just wanted to make sure you were safe! And then Hardison didn't follow my plan and I thought they were going to get you so I had to…"

"I know," Parker cried into the grifter's arms, "You were using your con voice."

"You're alright," Sophie cried into the thief's hair as she refused to let her go, "You're okay. Hardison! How's Hardison?"

"He's got a bad bump on his head," Eliot explained stunned by the state of the grifter and thief, "He won't wake up for a bit but he's alright. You're the one I'm more worried about right now."

"Why?" Parker asked as she stepped away from the grifter to get a good look at her, "Sophie, what happened?"

"They almost killed her!" Nate reported in disdain as he wrapped his arms protectively around the grifter and forced her to sit down.

"What did they do?" Parker demanded in a gasp at the statement.

"They wrapped a cord around her neck and almost strangled her," Eliot retorted as he kept his watchful eyes trained on the grifter.

"Are you okay, Sophie?" Parker questioned as she stared at the grifter in concern.

"It's nothing," Sophie shook off as her voice continued to sound gravelly and wrong to their ears, "It just hurts is all. Are you alright, Parker?"

"You want me and lied to protect me," Parker stated with a shrug, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I lied to you," Sophie huffed out though it was obvious her throat was hurting her.

"No more talking right now," Nate ordered immediately, "You can apologize to Parker when you're all healed up. Right now you should be in bed resting."


	4. Desperation

Hardison stared blankly at the new ceiling in confusion. He was trying to remember why his head ached and every piece of him was screaming to fight. He remembered Eliot and Nate leaving to go meet with the mark. Sophie wanted to get something to settle Parker's nerves so she went downstairs for a while. Parker was practically bouncing off the walls in a bundle of chaos the moment Sophie left. She kept questioning what was going on and why they weren't doing anything. She couldn't understand that they were at the part of the plan where they threatened the mark into giving them everything. They were close to finishing the con. That's when it happened! Sophie entered the room with eyes blazing. She immediately started calling Parker names and said so many bad things it was horrible. Hardison wanted to punch the grifter until she was out cold for the things she said to his thief. Then, he recognized something. The note in her voice was wrong. It was her con voice. They were after Parker and he needed to protect her! He started helping Sophie out because he knew full-well that she wouldn't be able to fight them off on her own. They needed to buy Parker time. He packed up her things and practically threw her into the room furthest from the hotel door. He lied to her. He had to. He told her he didn't love her which was obviously not true but it was going to save her and that was all that mattered. He watched as Parker tried to fight off the tears on her way out of the window and out of their lives, his life, until she got past the hurt and realized how much they lied about. He heard a horrifying sound coming from where he had last seen Sophie. He rushed to the grifter's side in time to see her fail and have a cord wrapped firmly around her throat. He hollered at the goons and went to save his friend. A fist met him square in the face before he reached her but that didn't matter. The guy who threw the punch was on the floor in seconds from the arm he gladly extended the way Eliot taught him. He threw the guy killing the grifter across the floor and started exactly where she had left off. He kicked the first guy to come towards him in the nose. He then threw himself into the next guy. Anything to distract the big guys from the grifter and buy her the time she needed to breathe before she could escape with Parker. His head was the first thing to hit the television shortly after. His foot connected with something hard and a howl of pain helped his grimace of pain turn into a smirk of satisfaction. He could hear some movement from Sophie's direction and started heading towards it. His face was reflected back at him in several pieces after that one. He heard a chair crack from nearby and knew it was Sophie trying to fight off the goons for him. Didn't she understand that it was his job to save her? He kicked back and threw a punch that landed with a nice snap of satisfaction. He dodged some more blows as he tried to lead them further into the hotel room. Eliot and Nate would come back for them. He would be fine. He just needed to buy them time. He felt the wall up a few more times before blackness took him for a ride. The last thing he saw...

"Sophie!" Hardison shouted as he abruptly jolted himself out of bed and across the hall before gravity and his own stamina came into action, "Parker! Sophie! Parker! Girls, let me hear from ya!"

"Hardison!" Parker shouted angrily as she seized the man by the shoulders to comfort his fall, "What are you doing jumping out of bed like that?"

"Parker!" Hardison sighed in relief when the thief popped into his welcoming vision, "Are you okay? I didn't mean it! I wanted to get you out of there so they wouldn't get you! They didn't get you did they? You're alright, right?"

"I'm fine," Parker muttered in stunned disbelief as those horrid tears started to fall on her cheeks again, "I figured out you were lying later. We're safe. You're okay."

"Sophie!" Hardison repeated urgently as he snapped out of his moment of bliss at Parker's livelihood long enough to remember his job, "Where's Sophie?"

"She's…" Parker hesitantly began to answer before another voice floated into his ears.

"Hardison!" Nate snapped at him in relief, "You're awake, good. What are you doing out here? You just suffered from a very serious head injury! Come on let's get you back to bed!"

"Nate?" Hardison questioned immediately, "How is Sophie? Is she okay?"

"We need to get you back in bed," Eliot replied back as he gave the mastermind a careful look before he helped get the hacker up and moving towards the bed, "You were really messed up. How many of the guys did you take out before they got you?"

"I don't know," Hardison replied as he was put in bed, "I was only fighting so they wouldn't get Parker. It was just instinct. I had to buy her enough time to get lost. I just kept throwing kicks and punches and they landed every time. My face broke the mirror though."

"Seven years of bad luck," Parker stated the little fact in distaste, "We didn't need seven more years of that, Hardison."

"I'm not apologizing for getting my ass handed to me to get you out," Hardison spat back with a grin at how alive she was, "When did you guys come to save me?"

"We didn't," Nate sighed as he took a deep breath at the thought, "We were too late."

"What do you mean?" Hardison asked in confusion, "Parker's alive and well and right here. I'm alive and only a little broken. Sophie's… Aw hell no! Sophie's dead? How can she be dead? I was right there! She can't be dead! How is she? What happened? She wasn't dead when I passed out!"

"Hardison calm down!" Eliot shouted as he gave another look in Nate's direction before answering, "Sophie's…"

"Sophie's dead!" Hardison screamed as guilt started swelling throughout his chest, "I'm sorry, Nate! I was fighting them off as hard as I could but that woman just wouldn't leave!"

"Hardison, no!" Nate shouted at the hacker in dismay, "You were saving Parker! You saved…"

"She's dead!" Hardison shouted out angrily, "I'm sorry, Parker! I really tried!"

"Sophie's alive, Hardison!" Parker shouted out loudly, "She's fine."

"Seriously?" Hardison demanded as he stared quizzically at the two other men in the room, "Cuz they aren't acting like she is!"

"It was a close call!" Eliot supplied with a guilty shrug, "A very close call!"

"I had to do mouth to mouth eighteen times before it worked," Nate explained as he rubbed his neck in frustration.

"Then where is she?" Hardison demanded immediately as his eyebrow started to arch at the implication, "If she's alive, why isn't she in here right now?"

"She's resting," Nate explained sheepishly, "It was a very close call!"

"We're keeping her heavily drugged until her throat heals enough that she won't damage anything by talking," Eliot supplied as he darted another careful glance Nate's way.

"I want to see her!" Hardison demanded angrily, "Wake her up because I want to see her right now!"

"Hardison," Parker spoke softly, "she's sleeping. You should be too. It's okay. You need your rest."

"No!" Hardison shouted at the woman he cared about most of all, "Ya'll are lying to me, that's what's going on! Ya'll know I tried to save her and you think telling me will do somethin' with my recovery! She's dead and ya'll just don't want to tell me! Aw Sophie, I'm sorry! I tried!"

"Hardison?" a gravelly voice that sounded somewhat like the grifter's answered back after that little outburst of mistrust.

"Oh thank god!" Hardison sighed in relief as the grifter popped into his vision, "They wouldn't let me see you!"

"It's alright," Sophie smiled warmly at him as she groggily moved towards him though she was intercepted by Nate's arms snaking their way around her waist to keep her standing, "I'm fine. You saved me. I would be dead if you didn't buy me that time! Go to sleep."

"Parker," Hardison demanded sternly as the thief automatically popped up to his side, "don't leave! You stay right there!"

"I will," Parker promised as she grabbed his hand and squeezed it, "I'm right here."

"Good," Hardison smiled as his eyelids grew very heavy, "I saved my girls. I can sleep now. I lo…"

"You low?" Parker asked in confusion when Hardison fell asleep before completing his statement, "What did he mean by he lows?"

"Nothing, Parker," Eliot replied as he stared at the grifter in disdain, "What are you doing out of bed, Sophie?"

"I heard him screaming," Sophie shrugged as she started leaning heavily against the mastermind, "I knew he needed to make sure I was alright."

"You need to be in bed," Nate calmly stated as he pulled her closer, "Your body needs time to recover from the lack of oxygen."

"I don't want to rest," Sophie pouted as her eyelids started to slide shut of their own accord.

"I know," Nate spoke softly as Eliot rolled his eyes, "that's why you're being drugged."

"I hate drugs," Sophie stated as Nate picked her off of the floor and took her out of the room.

"How close was it?" Parker asked sheepishly as she petted her hacker's hair and stared at his sleeping face in wonder.

"Everybody's safe, Parker," Eliot quipped back refusing to answer her question at all, "We'll get these guys back for what they almost did. That's all that matters."

"How bad was Nate?" Parker asked immediately afterwards as she guessed the answer based on the one she had gotten.

"They're alive and the bad guys didn't get you," Eliot stressed with a low growl, "That's a win! Don't worry about the rest of it! It's not your fault, Parker!"


	5. Denial

**A/N:** _Sorry it took me so long to update. I didn't realize I had the beginning of the chapter because I thought I deleted it and I didn't. So, here it is!_

Eliot stared at his hands in shock. He had killed people with those hands. He had taken many lives and destroyed several others with those hands. He had done so many awful things with those hands but he couldn't do one simple… He almost lost his family. They were almost gone for good. Sophie almost died because he wasn't there. Hardison was seriously injured because he wasn't there. Parker was almost taken because he wasn't there. The only good thing was that he had been there to protect Nate but he wasn't there for the others. It was supposed to be a simple con. They were going to trick the guy into screwing himself over like they always did. The mark wasn't supposed to figure out who they were. The hitter stared at his hands in wonder. Those hands had picked up the phone that had almost led to their complete undoing. It was those hands that had allowed the mark to distract them long enough to almost lose everything.

He and Nate had left the hotel room to go to that stupid meeting they had agreed to go to so they could trick the mark into falling into their plan. It was in a warehouse on the opposite side of town. The mark met them there with a huge smile that should have been their second clue. Nate had started in on his evil speech of evil that was beginning to sound like the rest of his evil speech of evils now. They had been working so many jobs that the characters were starting to blend together. It made the hitter realize exactly why their grifter had such a difficult time finding her-self a few years ago when she needed to become a better person. The mastermind's speech was shorter than usual so the mark started in on his counter-speech of evil. It was very boring to say the least. It had something to do with money not being able to grow on trees which was technically false because there were still bills throughout the world that had been made from plants that were still hanging around because people wanted to keep them and third world countries still worked on the barter system so a tree could be part of the barter which would make that statement extremely false. Yeah, that was about the part where the hitter's mind started to wander because every single stupid man they went against always said the same thing after a while so it was really a moot point to continue listening to a speech that was going to be proven wrong in such a short while. So the hitter's mind started to wander to the multiple exit strategies he could come up with while he was standing there. He noted that it would take him about twenty seconds each guard before he had the mastermind completely free of any deadly weapons. He also noticed that there was a distinct lack of ready weapons in the event such a fiery frenzy could take place. Yep, he was definitely going to be bored if they actually had to fight their way out. Nate could fight so that added to the boringness of the current job. So Eliot decided to start working on his menu for the night's feast. He decided he would be using lemon juice because the thief and hacker seemed to be extremely fond of any meal with even the slightest mention of lemon juice in it. He also needed to make vegetable for Mr. Picky eater who also happened to be their team leader so no alcohol would be in their diet that evening. It had to be something that would guarantee no leftovers so Sophie wouldn't offer her help in order to escape the grump before him. Eliot silently giggled at his bad names he continued to use to describe Nate's, or Whiskey man's, behavior towards his cooking. Of course, he also thought about the many reprimands he would be receiving from the grifter shortly afterwards for saying those things too. Then Parker and Hardison would point out that it was Sophie's job to make fun of Nate because Nate would actually listen to her. It was a wonder those two ended up acting so much like their idols, the fact that Nate and Sophie were the best example of a working relationship definitely screwed them up way worse than if they continued to live in their own little bubbles. That was when Eliot decided to zone right back into the conversation because Nate did that weird intake of breath that you could only catch on the comms so it was definitely bad.

"How attached are you to your little blonde thief?" the mark had asked suddenly, "Because I doubt you'll ever see her again."

"What are you talking about?" Eliot had demanded in a very unhappy growl.

"Your hacker won't last long against my best either," the mark had continued with that stupid grin, "I'm sending my best in there to stop him."

"You son of a bitch," Nate gasped out as his face paled into a look that reflected white ash.

"I hope the brunette doesn't fight," the mark continued to babble like an idiot with that stupid smile covering his damn face, "She'd make a nice little pet. Your teammates were always very good at avoiding detection. I had to go to whole other source in order to figure out who they are. Of course, even they can't escape what I have planned for them."

"No!" Nate had screamed, or at least, that's what Eliot thought he heard Nate say. He was a little busy taking out the thirty men that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere during his daydream that wasn't really a daydream. He lied about the count too. It only took him three seconds every two men before he and Nate were completely out of harm's way. He didn't know if he left them alive. He also didn't care. They had been stupid and missed the important part where the mark only goes to the stupid warehouse when he knows he's about to win. Nate kept repeating that to himself as he sped through the town at about Parker speed with Sophie accuracy and Hardison luck so it didn't really matter all that much. It was a bitch when they finally got to the hotel. Eliot had been a coward then. He was a damn coward when he got to that hotel. He didn't want to go in. He took one look at Nate and refused right to the man's face to go into that hotel. Then Nate grabbed him by the collar and threw him into the wall. Yeah, the mastermind, the old guy who used to be the good guy threw him into the damn wall as if he were paper, him, the retrieval specialist who killed most of Damien Moreau's men without a scratch on him! The look in Nate's eyes when he said they were going in that room was what made him agree to it. The look of desperation and dread that was stuck in those blue eyes of the mastermind convinced him that going in just to see the bodies was the only decision they could make. They ran. They ran to that room via stairs they were running so fast. One of them kicked the door down and the hitter still isn't sure which one it was but it was what they saw after that door disappeared that he couldn't stop thinking about. Sophie was just lying there with that cord wrapped around her neck and Nate… It wouldn't have been just Sophie they lost in that moment. Nate was almost gone until she started coughing and breathing and worrying about the others as usual again. God, Hardison was lying there…

"It's not your fault," Parker piped in carefully.

"Dammit Parker!" Eliot shouted at the thief in irritation.

"Why did you jump?" Parker questioned in confusion, "You only jump when you're nervous!"

"Why do you think, Parker?" Eliot sighed at the thief's statement in defeat.

"It's not your fault they got hurt," Parker pointed out innocently.

"I wasn't there, Parker," Eliot grumbled angrily at the fact that he was actually telling her the truth for the moment.

"Neither was Nate and he keeps blaming him-self too," Parker stated simply.

"It's not his fault, Parker," Eliot replied quietly, "It was his plan but it wasn't his fault."

"Is it Nate's fault?" Parker demanded slowly.

"Of course not," Eliot grumbled at the thief's question angrily, "Were you not listening to what I just said?"

"I knew it wasn't his fault," Parker smiled cheerily at the news.

"I should have seen it coming," Eliot huffed dramatically, "I would have been here sooner."

"It's not your fault Hardison and Sophie almost died," Parker explained simply, "It's their fault."

"How is it their fault?" Eliot demanded of the thief in confusion.

"They didn't stop fighting just so they could protect me," Parker stated with embarrassment starting to blossom upon her face, "So maybe it's my fault for letting them."

"They were fighting because they love you, Parker," Eliot sighed at the thief's thoughts, "The guy just wanted to show us who's boss and they decided they weren't going to let him."

"Why didn't they stop fighting when I was gone?" Parker asked softly.

"Because stopping would have meant losing you," Eliot explained in a whisper, "Sophie can read people, Parker. You and I both know that she knew exactly what those men were going to do to you."

"What were they going to do to Hardison?" Parker asked innocently as fear started to etch into her eyes and voice.

"It doesn't matter, Parker," Eliot ordered as he started to get up to leave.

"I want to know," Parker pouted surprisingly, "What were they going to do to Hardison? What did Sophie know that she didn't want to tell us? Don't keep me in the dark, Eliot!"

"Ask Sophie," Eliot grunted in response as he started to walk away.

"Sophie won't tell me," Parker dared angrily, "but you will! I didn't ask you what Moreau asked you to do! What did Sophie read that Hardison and I couldn't?"

"They were going to kill him, Parker!" Eliot shouted angrily, "They were going to torture him by having him watch them hurt you! That's what Sophie read! That's what Hardison figured out! That's why they fought so hard to protect you!"

"Then why weren't they going to do that to Sophie?" Parker cried out angrily, "Why were they only going to do that to me? Why were they going to punish Hardison like that? Why me?"

"Because you're you," Eliot explained hollowly, "Because they knew we would protect you most because you have the most innocence to lose."

"Because it would be the equivalent of Sam," Parker gasped in understanding, "Because I'm the team's Sam!"

"No," Eliot shook his head at the thief's thinking, "because you're our Parker! You're the heart of this team and they figured it out because you and Hardison are the youngest!"

"They're going to pay," Parker nodded in new understanding, "because of the mistake they made in attacking our team."

"They didn't kill any of us," Eliot grinned at the thief's thinking, "They just pissed us off."

"Let's go steal revenge," Parker stated gleefully at the idea she was about to unleash, "Where's Nate?"

"This is going to be fun," Eliot smiled at the news as he followed the crazy thief to the sick room.


	6. Delivery of Vengenace

**A/N:** _Sorry, I haven't updated this in a while. Too many ideas, work, thought bunnies, The 10 li'l grifter's job, ideas, The Van Gogh Job, and those damn ideas; they really made it difficult to actually sit down and finish this. I hope you don't mind me explaining what actually happened. I think your own imagination will be better served for this one. Please, review so I can work on my endings. Thanks for reading!_

**Disclaimer:** _If I owned it, people would be watching this instead of reading. So I guess not!_

Nate stared at the now sleeping grifter in complete shock. He had almost lost again. He had allowed himself to get close to people and create a new family and he almost lost it! He needed to get off of that thought-train before it decided to pull out of the station. He had to focus on the plan. Eliot and Parker were working on it right now. He had to focus on that terrific plan that was going to leave the mark gasping for air. He needed to stop watching the grifter's breathing pattern. He needed to focus on the con and not on the fact that her breathing was still not as steady as it should be after two months of recovery. Yeah, that thinking wasn't stopping anytime soon. The mastermind sighed out in annoyance as his mind decided to run its favorite reel of failures yet again that night alone.

First up: Sam and his cancer and Blackpoole's damn denial. Yeah, that was a fun memory. Watching him die, that was nothing he couldn't handle… again! Then, Maggie's divorce papers came in hopes of saving what was left of her-self from the black hole known as Nathan Ford said hello. Of course, almost getting blown up by Dubenich popped in for a view before being immediately replaced by almost having to watch Sophie blown into little bits and pieces by that damn Chaos punk. Parker and Hardison decided to pop by when they both almost got shot to death on that car job they pulled. Eliot's Moreau incident flashed by like the hitter himself always seemed to do; powerful, graceful and deadly all in one swift movement of perfect menace. Finally Perkins showed up with his stupid taunting and gloating of finally being able to destroy their family! Hardison's blood covered the entire hotel room when they entered it and the thought of Parker being taken away for forever… _Drugging Sophie was the only way_, Nate thought to himself as the last images of pushing a needle through the grifter's skin popped on in, _she was worrying about the others too much instead of focusing on herself._ The mastermind didn't even notice that his hand was wiping away some stray hair in the grifter's face until she started to turn into the touch. He smiled at the simple gesture despite himself because she was alive and he really wanted to stop pushing her away all of a sudden even though that was a super bad idea. Then he heard the very distinctive sound of someone behind him.

"Did you do it?" Nate asked as the unmistakable sounds of the hitter finally registered to the rest of his body.

"Parker's Taser has become a new appendage of hers," Eliot commented with only the slightest hint of humor in his voice.

"Hardison was mad that I wouldn't let him play his video game," Parker quipped from the window as she quietly entered on through.

"That's because he would find some way to hack into Perkins' accounts," Nate smiled at the truth written clearly on his thief's face.

"No, I wouldn't Hardison grumbled as he entered the room in anger, "I am shocked that you would even suggest such a thing."

"Seriously?" Eliot growled at the hacker in irritation.

"Just a little," Hardison shrugged in response to the tiny doubtful scowl on the thief's face.

"We would all be very rich," Sophie mused as everybody's ears registered the raspy; unhealthiness was no longer present in it.

"We're already rich," Hardison grumbled affectionately back in mock annoyance at the grifter's choice of words, "Woman, do you still have no idea what I do? That's just ungrateful!"

"Quit whining," Eliot rolled his eyes at the hacker's immediate response.

"I said I would let you play when I got back," Parker added on with amusement in her eyes.

"First thing's first," Nate ordered humbly, "Did he suffer?"

"Yeah," Parker stated in confusion, "I even pulled his pants down for good measure."

"I gave him a wedgie," Eliot added with a smirk, "That's why Parker pulled his pants down."

"I set up the security cameras to show the whole thing so we can all watch it on the big screens," Hardison added enthusiastically with an evil laugh coming from his lips at the news.

"I thought you weren't supposed to be doing anything but resting?" Sophie quirked an amused eyebrow at the hacker's simple statement.

"We searched that room fifteen times for any electronic devices," Eliot yelled at the hacker thoroughly insulted, "How did you hack into his security system?"

"I just hid your phone in my pants during your last round," Hardison replied back with a shrug, "I knew that was the one place you would never look."

"Dammit Hardison!" Eliot hissed at the hacker angrily, "Now I have to buy a new phone!"

"No problem," Hardison answered as he pulled out a phone and handed it to the hitter with a cheesy smile, "I programmed this one with all of those recipes you love and more."

"Sweet," Eliot laughed as he started working with his new phone with tiny giggles of ecstasy.

"You didn't just have Eliot form the plan did you?" Sophie demanded of the mastermind when her mind finally sharpened enough for her to realize exactly what had been going on.

"Of course not," Parker answered for the mastermind happily, "He planned it completely. I got to use explosives!"

"Nate!" Sophie snapped at the mastermind ruefully, "You're not supposed to tell them to kill the mark!"

"They didn't kill the mark," Nate defended with a very evil smile forming on his lips, "Did you guys kill the mark?"

"Nope," Parker shook her head in response.

"He was very much alive when we left," Eliot nodded to the thief's assessment immediately.

"Screams and all," Hardison added with a laugh, "It's all on the video, man."

"As long as you didn't kill him," Sophie agreed with the assessments happily, "You didn't have to physically hurt him though!"

"He tried to kill Hardison and almost killed you!" Nate argued profusely with no humor in his eyes at all at that cold memory, "I think we were quite generous in letting him live!"

"It's more ruthless to make somebody wish they were dead anyways," Parker commented slowly.

"He was crying before I was even warmed up," Eliot snarled at the wimpy mark's reaction to his torture techniques, "It was barely even worth it."

"I made certain he's on suicide watch," Hardison laughed at his little hobby.

"Seriously?" Parker quipped at the hacker.

"What?' Hardison demanded innocently back, "I got very bored during my recovery."

"You're still not fully recovered," Eliot mumbled at the hacker with a roll of his eyes, "What kind of idiot walks on his broken leg after only a month of not walking?"

"Says the idiot who walked on a broken leg for a good five days before getting treatment after vigorously running on immediately after breaking it," Sophie harshly replied back to the hitter's jibe.

"You can't say anything about it either!" Eliot fussed back childishly at the call back to a job a while back.

"We are not getting into the 'you were dumber than I was' war," Nate huffed at his crew affectionately, "Everybody's alive and our mark suffered! That's all we need to care about right now!"

"Tell them what you did, Nate," Parker begged persistently all of a sudden, "Please, please, please!"

"You'll just have to wait and watch," Nate smiled at the thief's enthusiasm happily.

"What did you do?" Sophie snapped at the mastermind with alarm evident in her eyes.

"Let's just say that the guy found out exactly why you don't mess with us," Hardison smiled at the memory, "He was actually beggin' to be returned to Eliot. Now that's messed up right there!"

"Come on," Nate replied as he helped the grifter to her feet, "Let's go watch the bastard fall!"


End file.
